


DEVIL WITHIN [THE ORDER]

by HopeVainProductions



Category: The Order (TV 2019)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-21
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2019-11-27 07:22:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18191501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopeVainProductions/pseuds/HopeVainProductions
Summary: Belgrave University was supposed to be Rebecca's fresh start. It was supposed to be her chance to escape her controlling parents, her lying ex-boyfriend, her extremely eventful past. The promised fresh start turned quickly into a nightmare as she learns that not everything is as it seems in Belgrave.the order[season 1 -?]hamish duke x oc





	1. NEW START

If there was one thing I knew as a fact, it was that Belgrave University was my fresh start. It was my chance to do everything better, to make the wrong right. It was a chance for me to escape my controlling parents, my lying ex-boyfriend, but most of all, my extremely eventful past.

The news of acceptance came as a shock to me, mostly due to the reason that my academic career had not been the best. You know those wrong crowds of people, those popular students who couldn't be bothered to open a text book? That was me in high school. I hardly went to school, and spent most of my time partying and hooking up with every acceptable guy. It wasn't until the last class of high school I decided to turn things around, managing to get my grades high enough to even consider going to college. The response of my attendance couldn't have come at a better time. My now ex-boyfriend was caught having a rendezvous with one of my closest friends, and even though my feelings for him had not been the strongest, the hurt hit me like a brick. It was mostly the hurt of knowing I could be replaced so easily, but there is something positive in every negative thing. I walked into the doors of the university with a promise to myself – no boys, no parties, only studying.

The grounds of the university were huge, and it came as a surprise even to me when I didn't get lost. It might have been mostly due to the fact that I had managed to score myself a map from a fellow college student, but I could still take pride in my navigation skills. I barely managed to stop getting run over when someone ran past me so quickly that I couldn't even spare to glance at him. Luckily, my room wasn't far away as I walked inside, my confidence faltering when I saw one side of the room already occupied. I had arrived quite early simply for the reason to be present to greet my future roommate, but I guess that she had the same idea in mind. She, however, was not present as I took it as a chance to glance around at her side of the room. Everything had already been settled in – white bedsheets were covering the bed, a red duvet placed neatly on top of it. Two huge bags had been thrown on top of the duvet, one of them partly open. A black laptop could be seen from inside the bag along with something that seemed to be a sketch book.

With a headshake I walked over to my bed, throwing my bag on top of it. As I was about to open it, the door to the room flew open, and a blonde girl walked inside with a huge smile on her face.

"Hi!" She said, her smile not leaving her face as she walked closer to me, her hand stretched out for a handshake. "I'm Cassie Waldgrave, your future best friend." She continued as I shook her hand with a chuckle escaping my lips.

"I really hope so." I replied, my smile matching hers. "Rebecca England." I introduced myself before letting go of her hand. She seemed to be a really nice girl, and I couldn't have been happier that I had been paired up with someone like her.

"So," She started, jumping onto the only unoccupied corner on her bed, "what are you planning on studying?" Cassie questioned, interest written into her face. For a second I thought she was simply asking for the purpose of small talk, but the girl genuinely seemed interested in my choice of study.

"Uh, history." I simply replied, not bothering to specify that I was mostly interested in archeology. "What about you?" I questioned, throwing her a glance as I opened my bag, ready to settle in into the room I would spend the next four years in.

"Psychology, with a minor in technology." Cassie proudly replied. Right as she was about to open her mouth to question me more her phone rang. She instantly grabbed it, jumping up from the bed, her eyes focused on me.

"I totally forgot about the tour!" She exclaimed, grabbing a varsity jacket from her bag and throwing it on. "You want to come with me?"

I simply nodded with a smile, deciding that I had all the time in the world to unpack. Besides, I was sure that if I wouldn't go to the tour I would get lost almost instantly. Cassie already had walked out of the door while I stayed for a second to grab my phone. After that, I practically ran after her for a chance to catch up with her.

**IIIIIIIIII**

When the two of us arrived at the spot the tour would start, a fight had already broken out. I simply rolled my eyes at the immaturity of the two boys – it was the first day and people were already fighting each other. Fortunately, the two of them stopped when a blonde girl – who I could only assume was the tour guide – appeared, commenting on the two boys fighting.

"Told off by a girl. God really is a woman." Cassie remarked, and I couldn't help but to let out a chuckle. I could only make out of the conversation between the blondie and one of the boys that he's name is Jack. Other than that, I really couldn't be bothered to care about their conversation. I was there only for the tour, nothing more. Jack, however, decided to take his place next to me, and for some reason deemed it important to introduce himself to me.

"My name's Jack." He said, his hand stretched towards me. I took it, managing a small smile onto my face. "I'm Rebecca, and this is my roommate Cassie." I motioned towards the blonde girl next to me. She gave a wave to him as he nodded in response. My attention was turned towards the tour guide, especially when she _actually_ started to give us a tour. It was quickly high jacked by Jack though, and I had to admit that he made a far better tour guide than the girl named Alyssa did. For some reason he knew extremely much about the school, starting from its history and ending with the location of everything a student could need.

What caught my interest the most was the Belgrave's secret society Jack mentioned – the Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose. Even though the name didn't make it seem much, it caught my interest. Cassie caught my eye and I could see from her eyes that she was interested about it just as much as I was. I made a mental note to ask Jack about The Order more when I had the chance – for now I tried my best to memorize everything Jack was talking about.

**IIIIIIIIII**

"Oh my god, I can't believe you were such a rebel in high school!" Cassie exclaimed, laughing as she sipped on her glass of beer. After the tour we had decided to go to a bar for a couple of drinks and a chance to bond. We were now having our second glasses of beer, and if I said I wasn't tipsy I would have lied. Not having an alcoholic beverage for over two years had done its job.

For the last half an hour – at least – we had been talking about our high school adventures. It didn't come as a shock to me that Cassie hadn't done such crazy shit like I had through high school. Just as I was taking a sip of my drink I saw Jack enter the pub with another guy after him.

"Jack! Over here!" I yelled, motioning for him to come over to the table me and Cassie were sitting at. My blonde roommate turned herself towards Jack, scooting over so that he could take a seat next to her.

"Randall, this is Rebecca. And her roommate Cassie." Jack introduced the boy next to him who had a bright smile on his face, me and Cassie matching his smile. Jack pulled himself a stool from the table next to ours as Randall took a seat next to Cassie, but not before walking over to the bar to order some beer for him as well as to Jack.

"Girls, you missed a sight of the century. Jack here got rejected by Alyssa." Randall commented as Jack rolled his eyes, letting out a small groan in response.

"Our tour guide?" I questioned, not sure whether her name had been Alyssa or not. Guess my mind hadn't deemed it important enough to remember. Jack didn't reply, but simply nodded as he took a gulp of his beer.

"I'm not interested in her." Jack added, turning around to look at a group of people at the bar. We all followed his gaze, meeting the eyes of the boys in the group. They glared at Jack, but when their eyes met mine and Cassie's they managed a smile onto their faces, one of them even winking at Cassie.

"What do you know about the Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose?"


	2. JUST ANOTHER DAY TO LIVE

It took me every ounce in my body not to throw my alarm clock across the room. Cassie and I had spent way too long at the bar last night, and we _definitely_ had drank a lot more than we should have. Not a really great way to keep my promise. Randall and Jack had left before us, and I wasn't even sure at what time we had left. Jack had bombed Randall with questions about The Order while Cassie and I simply laughed at his curiosity. Even if there was a society like that, there was a high chance they would have only accepted those jock-types like the ones we had seen at the pub. In my opinion, Jack was too smart to even consider joining a society like that.

Because of all the alcohol my head was pounding as I woke up to the loud ring of my alarm. Dozen seconds later I had managed to close it, and when I finally rolled over I saw that my roommate was nowhere to be seen. However, I hardly had any time to think about it since looking at my phone made me realize that I was about to be late for my first class. I was definitely _not_ nailing the beginning of my college career.

Throwing on the first clothes I could find, I was already running out of the door. A memory from the corner of my mind came forward as I remembered that Jack had mentioned the ethics class the two of us were sharing, which was – in fact – the same class I was running to. When I had finally managed to find the class I was relieved to walk inside and see that my lecturer was not present. It took me a moment to locate Jack, and when I found him I walked over to a seat next to his, managing a small smile onto my face.

"Morning." I greeted him, taking a seat next to his, barely managing to keep my head straight. Jack glanced towards me, clearly able to see the rough situation I was in. A small smirk appeared onto his face which was wiped away as soon as he saw me glaring at him.

"Rough night?" He questioned, the question earning him a hit on the shoulder. At the same moment the professor walked in, his eyes glancing around the whole room. "Introduction to ethics. Such a strange name for a class." I had to admit that our ethics professor was a lot cooler than I thought he would be. It would have been great if I could have paid attention to him, but my headache stopped me from doing so. My attention, however, was caught by a fellow student when the topic of conversation converted to the murder taking place yesterday. I couldn't believe that on my first day of college someone was murdered; what I couldn't believe more was that I had no idea something like that had occurred.

**IIIIIIIIII**

As soon as the bell rang, Jack stormed out of the classroom, simply telling me that he would talk to me later. I couldn't even respond when he was already out of my sight, and the only thing I could do was slowly saunter after him. When I finally reached outside I could see him already in a full conversation with our tour guide from yesterday – Alyssa, if I'm not mistaken. I wasn't sure whether to join them or not, but luckily I didn't even have to make a decision since Cassie walked over to me, her usual smile on her face.

"Who are you stalking now?" She questioned, her eyes following mine. When she saw Jack she let out a small whistle, clearly thinking that I liked Jack romantically. I simply sent her a small glance, rolling my eyes in response. Even though he was _almost_ my type, I was fully intent on keeping my promise, at least 2/3 of it.

"Don't even." I simply replied to her. My blonde roommate could only let out a small chuckle, linking my arm with hers as she led me towards an unknown destination. Our walk, however, could not last for long, and came to a full stop when we heard a loud scream. Without thinking the two of us ran towards the sound, leading us to a bloody body lying on the ground, Jack and someone – who I hadn't had the pleasure to meet yet – kneeling over it and trying their best to help her. Jack turned around when he heard someone run near him, and I could see panic in his eyes when he held his hands on her wound. Cassie and I couldn't do anything to help since it became evident that the person had died mere seconds ago.

"Jack, what the hell happened?" Cassie questioned, clearly panicking over the sight taking place in front of her eyes. I tried my best to remain calm, even though it wasn't as easy as I thought. I quickly gave a light squeeze to Cassie's hand which she gladly accepted. Jack glanced from Cassie to me, seeing the confusion in our eyes. "I don't know, we just heard a scream and came running." He explained, and while I fully believed him of not having anything to do with her death, Cassie didn't seem so convinced. She even took a full step back when Jack took a step towards us, his bloody hands towards us.

"Cassie, you have to believe me. You know I wouldn't do anything like that." Jack said, obviously understanding the fear Cassie felt. "Rebecca? You believe me right?" I quickly nodded as a response. I had only known him for a day, but I could have bet my life on his innocence which was something that Cassie clearly couldn't do.

**IIIIIIIIII**

I had my first police questioning after my eventful high school days – because let's be real, I had quite a lot of those in high school – and after that I promised to meet up with Jack in the pub. Cassie agreed to join me with an intention to apologize to Jack, and when we walked in we saw him already present at the bar with the same guy from earlier next to him. Suddenly a guy appeared next to Jack, purposely making him spill his drink just as he was about to take a sip; if I'm not mistaken, the douchebag was named Kyle. Cassie had already had to pleasure – or not – of meeting him since the two of them shared a class, and she told me full stories of how he hit on her while all she wanted to do was to concentrate on the lesson.

"Hey douchebag, how about you move? Thanks." I sarcastically said, walking next to Jack and practically shoving Kyle out of the way. Cassie followed me quietly, instantly sitting between Jack and the unknown boy – Kyle had already noticed her, trying his best to strike a conversation with her, which Cassie wasn't interested in at all. Kyle took it as his cue to leave, and I couldn't help but to make eye contact with Jack, the two of us laughing. When the laughter quieted down, Cassie took it as her chance to apologize to Jack, and within seconds everything was all and well between the two of them. I learnt that the boy was named Amir, and as it turned out, the two boys were pledges for the same society Jack had questioned Randall about – the Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose.

"This is some suspicious shit you're getting into." I couldn't help but to comment after Jack had finished his story about his ordeal with The Order. "Do they know you're pledging?" Cassie commented, me and Amir letting out a laugh as Jack simply glared at the blonde girl.

"Can you even tell us about the society? I mean, it seems kind of secret or something." I added, Amir clearly agreeing with me since he had told Jack in the beginning that he shouldn't tell anyone about it. Jack, however, simply shrugged it off, stating that he trusted the two of us not to say anything. While that applied to me fully, I could only hope that the same applied for my roommate. After all, I had met the girl a couple of days ago, and couldn't be sure whether to trust her or not. I was only sure of one thing – as much as I liked the people, there was no way in hell I was about to trust my past with people I had just met.


	3. NIGHT FULL OF TERRORS

I was already beginning to question the friendship between me and Jack – a friendship that had hardly began a couple of days ago. Ever since telling me and Cassie about being a pledge for The Order, Jack had thought it wise to talk about everything they did. I and Cassie were stuck hearing stories about the society, and to make matters worse, Jack thought of us as a great asset for his initiation or quests he had to go through; now me and Cassie were standing in the middle of a graveyard, ready to intervene in case Kyle had something sinister planned against my newly found friend.

“I can’t believe we agreed to do this stupidity.”

Cassie angrily whispered as I simply nodded, focusing on my nails which I desperately needed to re-paint. With a sigh I looked up, seeing Jack ready to dig his mom’s grave up. What kind of messed up society forces their pledges to do something like that? As hard as I tried, I couldn’t understand why Jack was so desperate to get accepted. I never would have pegged him as a fraternity kind of guy. Guess that only proved my point: I didn’t know _anything_ about him or my blonde roommate.

Suddenly I could see Kyle emerge from the forest. What caught my attention first was a quick flash before he appeared. It seemed that Kyle had taken a picture of Jack digging on his mom’s grave. When she noticed him, Cassie crouched down beside me, her eyes glued at the scene unraveling in front of her.

“What are they saying?”

She questioned, perhaps a little too loud. I quickly shushed her as she apologized; I could only hope that the two boys didn’t hear us. They didn’t seem to, since the two of them continued their conversation which I could hear nothing of. We were simply too far off, and even though it was a good location for observing, it was definitely a bad one for eavesdropping. The two boys were in a heated conversation when something suddenly caught my eye. I couldn’t understand what it was, but someone – or something – appeared behind Kyle. Jack seemed to notice the same thing I did, because he suddenly stopped talking, taking couple of steps back.

I quickly exchanged glances with Cassie, who seemed to have frozen in fear beside me. We could hear loud snarling from where we were standing, yet the two of us could hardly move. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, and neither could Cassie. The animal – or whatever the hell it was – approached Kyle from behind him, who quickly made a run for it, hitting himself unconscious with Jack’s shovel. The thing approached Jack, and when it did, its eyes flicked over to us. I quickly pulled Cassie behind the large headstone covering us, hoping that I was quick enough.

Our hands were covering our mouths as both of us were afraid to even breathe. I could only hear rustling and footsteps running away from us before silence came. Now I could only hear the wind blowing and an owl somewhere in the distance. I wasn’t sure how long we sat on the ground before either of us dared to move. When we finally gather the courage to peek behind the headstone we saw no one in sight – both Jack and Kyle along with the animal had disappeared. And as soon as we saw that the coast was clear we bolted up and ran away from the graveyard as fast as we could, not stopping before we had reached our dorm room and locked it behind us.

“What the fuck was that?”

My blond roommate practically yelled, frantically walking around the room from the window to the door. I ran my hands through my hair as a way to calm myself down before peeking through the curtain to make sure that we weren’t being followed. I was exhausted from the running – mentally reminding myself to pick up running again – but what I was more worried about was about Jack. He was either lying dead in some bush, or had ran away from the beast, either of those two options.

“I have seen _American Werewolf in London_ , and that looked exactly like a fucking werewolf!”

Cassie continued loudly, panic evident in her voice. Not that I could blame her though; I felt the same that she did, yet the only difference was that I didn’t voice it out loud.

“Cass, take a deep breath and calm down.”

I said, my hands relaxing on her shoulders as she did so; I too followed my own advice, and while it seemed to work on her it certainly didn’t work on me. I was too worried about Jack, and when Cassie finally calmed down I took the opportunity to text him. A reply never came, and needless to say, neither I nor Cassie got any sleep during the night.

**IIIIIIIIII**

The next day, I and Cassie were practically glued together. When neither of us was in class, we were together. The first thing we did in the morning was go to Jack’s dorm, hoping to find some kind of evidence that he had returned to his room yesterday evening. We weren’t that lucky, and even though we continued to search for him we still needed to attend classes – it was the last thing neither of us wanted to do since we both were worried to death along with exhausted.

After accompanying Cassie to her class I set my sight to my own lecture. I hardly paid any attention to anything around me, practically running into people after every five seconds. From the corner of my eye I could see I passed an empty classroom where two figures were in a deep conversation. I didn’t pay much attention to them, yet after passing the room I realized that the two figures were Alyssa and Jack. I quickly walked back, entering the room and not caring at all that I disturbed their conversation.

“Jack, what the hell? You couldn’t send me a message or call?” I practically yelled, walking over to him. Jack seemed to be surprised at seeing me standing there, and Alyssa was simply staring at the two of us.

“I’m gonna leave you two alone.” She awkwardly said, taking her leave. I crossed my arms as I glared at the boy in front of me. He didn’t seem to realize why exactly I was mad at him.

“You couldn’t call or text to let me know that you’re alive? I thought you were lying dead in some ditch.” I frantically said to which Jack simply rolled his eyes.

“I lost my phone yesterday. Did you see..?”

Jack stopped, and I didn’t even need him to finish his question before nodding. Just before I was about to question what had happened yesterday the bell rang. With a final apologize he left me alone in the classroom before I left after him, sending quickly a message to Cassie to let know that Jack was alright. I passed Randall on my way to class to whom I sent a smile which he returned.

Sitting in the back row of the classroom, my mind wandered around yesterday’s events. I paid no attention to the lecture, drawing instead of my notebook the beast I had witnessed before my eyes. And when I finished, I realized that what Cassie had said was true, even though I couldn’t begin to explain how it was possible – the thing, the beast, was definitely a werewolf.


	4. NO WAY TO RETURN

“Screw you Jack, we’re not going on a werewolf hunt with you.”

I angrily said, not bothering to turn back to glare daggers at the boy as Cassie and I walked towards our dorm room. Even though he apologized uncountable times, I was still extremely angry at the boy for letting me worry hours because of his well-being. Eventually I had to forgive the boy – that much was obvious – yet for the sake of both myself and my roommate I decided to prolong the process as long as possible. As soon as Jack saw us leave the college he ran towards us, informing us of the death of Amir and his plans to go searching for the beast we had seen couple of nights ago.

“Do you have a death wish or something?”

Cassie exclaimed, turning herself around and forcing myself to do the same. The boy had a bewildering look on his face as if he didn’t understand the meaning of the question. She had asked the very same question that had went through my mind as well. It was obvious to me _and_ to Cassie that Jack was actively seeking trouble, and he had no problem dragging the two of us along with him.

“Why don’t you ask-“ I was quickly cut off when my phone rang in my bag. It took me a minute to find it, and when I glanced at the caller I instantly let out a loud groan. “Fuck, I have to take this.”

“Hi, mom.” I greeted my mother, walking away from Jack and Cassie to speak with her privately. It didn’t take a psychic to know she was only calling to make sure I wasn’t up to my old tricks, and I knew well enough if I didn’t answer, she would send out a search party for me.

“Hi, sweetheart.” I rolled my eyes at her nickname; she had never – and I mean never – called me sweetheart. “Just wanted to know how you’re doing in college and everything.”

“Everything’s fine, mom. Classes started a couple of days ago and I already have a ton load of work to do.” I largely exaggerated just for the sake to make her believe I was solemnly focusing on my school and nothing else. I obviously couldn’t tell her what was really going on; I could only hope news about the student’s deaths hadn’t reached her ears.

“I’m glad you’re studying hard. Just remember what we talked about, Rebecca.” She said, the usual harshness in her voice returning. So much for being ‘sweetheart’.

“I know. I have to run to class now. Love you, bye.”

I quickly said, hanging up without giving her a chance to say anything else. With a quick throw I placed the phone back to my bag, walking back to Jack and Cassie. The quietness and the glances between the two of them indicated exactly what I feared would happen – the boy had managed to convince Cassie, which meant she would now start to convince me. And knowing that girl, she wouldn’t stop before she got what she wanted.

**IIIIIIIIII**

“Just so you know Jack, if I die, I’m going back to haunt the living hell out of you.”

I joked, even though it didn’t definitely _feel_ like a joke. There was some truth in the sentence – obviously we had no idea what we were dealing with, and obviously, if we found the werewolf it could kill us without any hesitation. Jack was so invested on the ‘hunt’ that he didn’t bother to even reply to me or Cassie, answering only with a simple yes or no or a nod.

“Do you even know where we’re going?”

Cassie questioned – another question Jack didn’t bother to answer. Instead he wandered around in the middle of the forest, making me question why the _hell_ I had agreed to come with him. I blamed Cassie entirely for not taking ‘no’ for an answer and for letting herself getting convinced by Jack.

“This is one of your stupider ideas.” We heard Jack mumble under his breath. When we caught up to him we saw a house in the distance – to be fair, the house looked like there was no one living in it and was haunted. Jack seemed to have the same thoughts as I did, looking doubtful. The doubt in our minds was quickly replaced by fear when we heard a twig snapping behind us as well as a loud growl.

The three of us ran towards the house as quickly as possible, seeing the same werewolf – or another one, I wasn’t sure – running after us. As soon as we entered Jack banged the door closed right under the nose of the thing. I and Cassie took a second to catch our breaths; we couldn’t do so for long when we noticed the same growl coming from upstairs. Looking up I was about to start cursing when the werewolf appeared, forcing the three of us to find shelter in the cellar, locking ourselves into a small room.

“I’m gonna _fucking_ kill you if we get out of this alive!” Cassidy whispered, and if looks could kill the boy would be already dead and buried.

It was only then I noticed the room that we were in. With the candles it looked like an altar, only there wasn’t anything to be worshipped. The only things visible were a couple of chests placed on top of a table. A bang forced us to move closer to the worshipped chest, and without warning it started rattling as if there was something inside, desperately wanting to be set free.

I instantly pulled Cassie away from the chest, the two of us settling near the corner while Jack – curious as he was – walked towards it. It was only when the thing opened I went over to Jack, desperately trying to pull him away from it; with a wave of his hand he dismissed my plea, looking closer inside. What happened next was something I would have never believed if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.

Cassie and I could hardly breathe as we watched Jack transforming into a werewolf, unable and too frightened to help him in any way. I was sure I would die right there, in some random house without anyone finding my body. The only silver lining was that at least I wouldn’t die alone.

After fully transforming into a werewolf – which sounds impossible, I know – he took off, not sparing not once glance at us. I and my roommate stood still for a minute or two – it could have been actually a lot longer, we weren’t sure – when Cassie suddenly started screaming, forcing me out of my trance.

“Did you see that? Did you see that?” She frantically yelled and repeated the same question over and over again. To be honest, I desperately wanted to slap her to get her to shut up; at the same time, I could fully understand what she was feeling.

“Come on, we need to get the hell out of here before he comes back!” I commanded her, grabbing her and pulling her along with me. She didn’t dare to move from the room, but eventually budged, the two of us running upstairs as fast as we could. Right as we were about to exit from the same door we had ran inside before, a guy I had never met before stood in front of it, blocking our way out of there. Dragging Cassie along with me I desperately searched for another route out of the house, but stopped when I heard Randall’s voice behind me.

“Calm down, Rebecca.” He said when we turned around. A girl had appeared next to him, the two of us staring as if we were crazy. The other guy – the same one who had stopped us from escaping – went to stand next to Randall, and now the three of them were standing like on the cover of an album.

“What the _fuck_ is going on here, Randall?”

Cassie instantly demanded, not allowing me to say anything. I felt slightly calmer, seeing a familiar face standing there. Then again, Jack had just turned into a werewolf and if my hunch was correct, Randall was one as well. I couldn’t say the same about the other two, though.

“This is Lilith and Hamish. And we are the Knights of Saint Christopher!” Randall happily exclaimed, Hamish and Lilith definitely not sharing his enthusiasm.

“Who?”


	5. CREATURES OF THE NIGHT

I had no idea when I had managed to fall asleep, nor that I would even fall asleep while being in some random house. After Randall and his companions finished their explanations of their society and the backstory of it Cassie and I had settled on the couch with the intention of waiting for Jack – and getting the hell out of there as soon as he came back, _if_ he was even was planning of doing so. Cassie was the first to close her eyes, her head resting on my shoulder. At least one of the members of the Knights was present with us in the room, never daring to leave us alone. Randall had tried his best to strike up a conversation with us, but neither I nor Cassie said one word to neither him nor the others, simply staring daggers at them.

It occurred to me that I had fallen asleep when I opened my eyes to Jack’s loud yelling. Night had turned into a morning as I gently shook Cassie in order to wake her up. After a minute she finally opened her eyes, looking around in surprise when yesterday’s events came back to her. We bolted up from the couch, seeing Jack standing around, practically naked with only a robe covering him. He seemed confused even more than we did, but relaxed when his eyes landed on us.

The three figures blocked us in our way to Jack, and without any remorse I bumped into Randall in order to make him move out of our way. He seemed genuinely regretful about keeping a secret from us; I had to remind to myself that I would _not_ forgive the boy so easily. I had already forgotten my wrath towards Jack and was now solemnly angry with Randall.

“Get your shit and let’s go, Jack.” I ordered him, throwing him his clothes that were practically ripped apart. I could care less about the state of his clothes; leaving was the solemn thought in my mind as I remembered that I had a class in two hours I needed to get to. Besides, I had no desire to spend any necessary minute in the house of werewolves.

“She sure swears a lot, doesn’t she?” Hamish commented, more to Randall and Lilith to anyone else. “My kind of gal.” The girl commented back as I could simply send a glare to both of them, ready to drag Jack out of the house myself if necessary, Cassie right next to me.

I was about to do so when Jack suddenly threw up parts of a deer as far as I could determine. It took me every ounce in my body not to threw up myself; it was obvious looking over to my roommate she tried her best not to do so herself.

“Yeah, you ate a deer last night.” Randall casually said, not bothering to comment on our dumb-folded faces. We could simply stare at Jack as he tried his best to stay calm, even when the trio started telling him a werewolf named Silverback – who, apparently, chose him as his champion, whatever the hell it meant. As it turned out, it didn’t take a full moon to make them turn; and a silver bullet would hurt them a lot which was a piece of extremely useful information.

Jack suddenly stormed past us, not bothering to even put his clothes on. Cassie and I instantly followed him, trying our best to keep up with him; the boy was running off like crazy, and as much as we tried he was too fast for us. Because of that I and my roommate ended up in the middle of the woods with no idea how to get back to the university.

“Do you have the same impression that we should unfriend Jack, like, right now?”

**IIIIIIIIII**

The next couple of days had passed as quickly as a shooting star. I was fully focused on my studies, steering clear of both Jack and Randall. The latter hadn’t given up on apologizing, forcing to admit his defeat every time he did so since I quickly shut him down. Jack, however, was too busy hanging out with his new friends that he didn’t have any time for me or Cassie. Not that I minded it though; getting caught in the supernatural was definitely what I had in mind when I thought of a fresh start.

The words in front of me were blurred together as I tried my best to understand at least s _omething_ of what I was reading. I cursed myself for letting my mother talk me into taking a French class for advanced students. Just because I had learnt it for two years in high school didn’t mean I was advanced in it. I barely understood anything I read, no matter how hard I stared at the pages. With a groan I decided to sip on my drink instead. Why study when I could get drunk instead, and focus on language of love in four hours or so?

My peace was – unfortunately for me – cut short when Cassie came running over to me. She sat down against me, stealing a French fry from my plate before popping it into my mouth.

“Hello to you too.” I said, rolling my eyes and taking yet another sip from the drink.

“Jack’s doing some fucking voodoo magic shit.”

Cassie whispered, leaning closer to me before resting back on her chair. I followed her eyes and saw him sitting behind a table with some of his society buddies. I had been so focused on my own stuff that I hadn’t even noticed him; my eyes travelled around the bar and not too far from him I saw Randall along with Hamish and Lilith, their eyes focused on both Jack as well as us. When Randall noticed us he sent us a wave which I returned with a fake smile before focusing back on Cassie and her claim of voodoo magic.

“What did he do then?” I asked just for the sake to keep the conversation going; I still had to admit I was curious as to what Jack was up to.

“He drew some symbol onto a paper and paid the waitress with that. She just accepted it as if it was a one hundred dollar bill.” Cassie explained, cautiously looking around the room so that no one would hear her. My eyes looked over to the boy in an instant; he was laughing with his _new_ friends as if he didn’t have a care in the world, as if he didn’t turn into a werewolf and eat a deer a couple of nights ago.

“Doesn’t sound like voodoo to me.” I explained to the girl sitting opposite me. Cassie didn’t even have a chance to reply when Randall along with Hamish and Lilith appeared at our table.

“Move.” The dark-haired werewolf basically commanded, forcing me to scoot over to the other side of the couch. Randall and Hamish forced Cassie to do the same, and now I was literally stuck and unable to exit.

“Are you stalking us or something?” I questioned, throwing a glare to Randall who looked over apologetically. Hamish and Lilith didn’t share his concern though; I didn’t have to know them to know apologizing was the last thing on their mind.

“Is Jack doing magic?” Lilith questioned, the question not meant for anyone specific. I shared a glance with Cassie; neither of us knew whether we should tell them about Jack being in The Order. Yet the fact that Lilith even asked that meant that Randall hadn’t told them – it was obvious there was a reason behind that.

“Do we look like his babysitters? How the hell should we know what he does?” I answered annoyingly. Looking over to Lilith she stared at me as if she wanted to rip my head off right there; I sent her a smile before my attention averted back to my drink I hadn’t still managed to finish due to the many interruptions by others.

“Yeah, I should have told you this earlier, but Jack’s in The Order of the Hermetic Rose.” Randall explained hesitantly. “Which is good, because that means we have an inside man.” He continued before anyone had an opportunity to reply.

“We’re gonna kill him.” Lilith blurted out as if it wasn’t a big deal and a daily occurrence for her; which, to be honest, wouldn’t surprise me not one bit. Cassie’s eyes widened in surprise at her claim – the girl looked like she wanted to bolt out of the room in any second.

“You’re not killing my friend.” I said more forcefully that I meant. “Doesn’t look like he is your friend.” Hamish instantly commented, making me roll my eyes at him.

“He might be a shitty friend, but he’s still my friend.” I added to which Cassie nodded. Everyone turned quiet after that; not one of us when what to say to each other. I was about to literally force my way out of the booth before Randall stopped me by practically yelling: “The two of you can help us! You’ll be like the honorary members of the Knights of Saint Christopher!”

“Absolutely fucking not.”


End file.
